Waitakere in the World club champs

Waitakere in the World club champs

Am I wrong in being seriously worried about how Waitak go? Their recent results have been awful and they play the side that beat Adelaide in the Asian Champs League final. Adelaide are probably a better side than the Nix, who beat Waitak 7 zip and did it easy. Not that I give two hoots about Waitak, they were getting too big for their boots, but its FIFA's reaction to another bad first up loss by the O League qualifier that i do care about. Anyone else have an uneasy feeling that FIFA may call time on a club from the O League going to the Club champs?

world club champs, you're havin' a laugh...

I'd be all over the O-League if TW qualified.

Well that money is rather important don't you think?

It's a great tournament for clubs such as Waitakere, or those from Asia, Africa and North America. They are able to earn some much-needed dough out of it and they get the experience of playing against players of a higher calibre than perhaps they would play against week in, week out.

However, for those clubs from European countries or South America, it's clearly nothing more than a distraction and adds to the congestion on the fixture list. Having listened to Fergie and the Man Utd staff in interviews on TV, they're not overly keen to be going halfway around the world at the busiest point of the English season to play, what is in essence, only one meaningful game for them (against the South American club), although I mean that with respect to the other competing clubs.

Waitakere is playing Adelaide, Rightstr.

well of course no one gives a monkey's about who wins the thing. But for NZ the money is significant - 500K (or is it 1m) that filters down in NZ Football every year. NZF isn't flush enough to not notice this kind of dough. So that's why I care.

Do we think Waitak getting spanked by the Nix made Sky's decision for them?

You're wrong on the account of South America - as a point of fact, South American clubs place great value on World Club Championships (and its previous incarnations, the Intercontinental Cup and Toyota Cup). It is the European who have traditionally been lukewarm to this type of competition, and pretty much continue to do so.

Much of it stems from European belief that the Champions League (or European Champions' Cup in the past), is the best and most difficult club competition to win in the world, so they don't really see the CWC as a real challenge. For South Americans though, Copa Libertadores is more of a means to an end of getting to play for the title of 'best' club in the world.

I'll bow to your knowledge of South American participation in the World Club Cup, El Grapadura. I was always told that the Brazilian clubs didn't fancy it, unless it was the one-off game against the Champions League winners, but you will probably know more than me on that score.

As for the Champions League being every club in Europe's holy grail, that's not strictly true. As one may notice, group games in the CL very rarely sell out, whereas a Premier League game is 90% sure to be sold out (Blackburn and Bolton tend to be exceptions to this rule). Ask any fan in England which competition they'd rather win and they'll tell you the Premiership - the best team wins that every time with no arguments. The CL is rarely won by the best team - as the scousers proved when they finished fifth in the Premier League but still won the CL.

While I can see the benefits of the World Club Cup for the smaller nations, Oceanian nations being prime examples, I would like to see it go back to the Europe v South America one-off game in Tokyo (for what that's worth). If the other continents then wished to continue the WCC in it's current format they could do so among themselves. Problem solved.

It does surprise me that SKY in NZ haven't chosen to take the Waitakere games this time around though. I think that's a great pity as there would surely be the interest from the football public in NZ and football there needs to promote itself at every possible opportunity, especially with what's happening in the NZFC at the moment.PSG552008-12-05 21:46:07

I see the much vaunted Ian Hogg wasnt included in the Waitak squad, any reason for that?

forgot to say

ian hoggs playing for the under 20s at wc qualifiers

Cause he is an over rated head case and finally an NZ coach can see that??

6-1 thats all that needs to be said really
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

i'm praying for a positive result, but just can't see it happening

according to the online SKY tv guide, coverage will start at 11.30pm on Thursday night, on Sky Sport 3...fingers crossed it's just straight to the FIFA coverage and we don't have to listen to Dennis and Fred first.

I got a feeling that this championship won't be televised...grrr

So Adelaide beat Nix 6-1. And Nix beat Y-tak 7-0.

Well your right, as soon as we do something half decent....we shoot ourselves in the foot straight away.

Just a quick two things - the capacity for CL games is reduced because of FIFA regulations (ostensibly to keep rival fan groups well separated), so that's why you see perhaps a bit more empty seats. Also, visiting teams are alloted their ercentage of the tickets, but they don't often use the whole lot up (i.e. you're unlikely to get 5-6,000 Ukrainians coming to Emirates or Old Trafford for example).

And furthermore, attendances in England have fallen noticably over the last few years, so maybe the CL is following the wider pattern?

As for CL not being the 'Holy Grail' of European football, wasn't not winning the CL part of the reason Mourinho's and Abramovich's problems, with Mourinho eventually leaving? Isn't Fergie on record as saying that CL is the competition he wants to win most, and that his one regret in his coachi career is not winning it more often? And also, Europe is a much bigger place than just England...

Well, that was a decent win against the Chinese club (Greentown). Maybe things won't be quite so bad against Adelaide as we are all thinking.

Clearly not as long as you do f**kwit!!

Ah, the cut and thrust of vigorous intellectual debate.

Sky Guide says 11:30PM Thursday Sky Sports 3.

But who the heck is Greentown? They ain't much compare to Adelaide and others in the CWC. It's not a good measure to look at. A local chinese team is not a red hot Aussie team atm.

Will it be on Justin's TV or Iraq goals?

Have you turned 13 yet?

Possibly why?
do you own any Gary Glitter records

Looks like the Chinese side finished midtable in the Chinese Super League and their final day draw with Shanghai Shenhua denied them the title - so looks like they're no mugs.

Take it to the PMs please children.  Nobody else is interested.

In line with ESPN, I'm now referring to Waitak as "Whiter-Kerry"

I was trying to figure out who this "Greentown" was. It's Zhejiang, province next to Shanghai. I would not put anything on that result, they might have been all out on the juice in a KTV the previous night. In China anything is possible.